I mean, for me (as well as him, obviously) it is a matter of "how" rather than "what". It is understandable, that what for some government officials is political reasons, for Linux end up being legal reasons, so no matter how ugly it is, it is not surprising at all that it came down to banning somebody who works for a sanctioned organization. It also doesn't matter that it makes no sense whatsoever (after all, you don't have to show your documents applying to the Linux mailing list), since most adult people get the fact that there's no justice in life.
But it is one thing when it's "sorry man, nothing I can do" (as in his private conversations with senior maintenaners), and other thing entirely, when for all your good work you are being dealt with like that, no heads-up, no good-bye, instead you get these things Linus has said today. Like, seriously, it doesn't even matter if Linus hates Russians and truly personally thinks this is desirable to get rid of these maintainers, it is just a matter of human decency to not make it any more than it has to be against individual person that basically worked for you (for free). And even if you don't have any human decency, it still just would be smarter to play it more neutral. So, yeah, it was really even surprisingly ugly.
That’s sad, too. Sounds like you got caught up in this, nothing that’s your fault, as well. I’m sorry to hear it.
I agree the how should have been way better implemented. For the human enterprises that they are it certainly seems like insufficient consideration is often paid to that.
Better to have difficult conversations than pretend it will be okay and everyone will be fine. Sometimes people are just saving themselves by avoiding that. Unfortunately to the detriment of others!
But it is one thing when it's "sorry man, nothing I can do" (as in his private conversations with senior maintenaners), and other thing entirely, when for all your good work you are being dealt with like that, no heads-up, no good-bye, instead you get these things Linus has said today. Like, seriously, it doesn't even matter if Linus hates Russians and truly personally thinks this is desirable to get rid of these maintainers, it is just a matter of human decency to not make it any more than it has to be against individual person that basically worked for you (for free). And even if you don't have any human decency, it still just would be smarter to play it more neutral. So, yeah, it was really even surprisingly ugly.